Settling in to a New Posting

It's the beginning of our fourth week here in Kuala Lumpur, and I am realizing a few things about the moving process.
1. I realize that it truly is difficult, because I went from having a mitful of good friends, being on the board of the women's association, planning events for it, birthday parties, and just general visiting and errands, to NOTHING.  Now we are in a serviced apartment with 3 pots to try to cook some meals and not eat out everyday, knowing no one so social life is nil, and the girls are not in a school yet so no playdates either until we meet some people.  It's not "zero to sixty in 3 seconds"... it's more like "sixty to ZERO in one plane ride"!
Now, that being said, it's actually okay... but it's an adjustment and I forgot it was coming so it's given me a few more "down days" because I am feeling lonely.  My solution: changing my mindset so I can actually embrace this down time and special days with my girls.  It won't be long until we're back into the swing of things and so busy with school and after-school activities that I'll be wishing for some down moments!!!  It's an opportunity to ease in slowly... because the cooking facilities are poor, I am not expected to cook every meal... so I need to embrace trying new restaurants while I can, and figure out where to buy groceries before I really and truly need them!  It's the lull before the storm, and I'm going to label it the "INFORMATION GATHERING" time.... I am trying to gain as much information about every mall, store, etc in the areas we are so that when I actually do NEED something, I'll have an idea on where to go to find it.  In terms of living in new cities, knowledge is indeed power, and instead of feeling so helpless and unable to find anything or accomplish anything, I am gathering as much of that information as I can now, so when I am on my own in the house, I can smoothly transition.
2. Inevitably, the most "boring" part of moving, is the busiest time for your spouse.  I have nothing to do until our shipment arrives.  Jeff, on the other hand, is trying to get up to speed with his new job, transition, adjust, and get into the flow of things.  I think he's currently averaging 14-16 hour days.  Which, again, I mentally understand, but emotionally loathe.  At the end of a long day alone with the girls, I look forward to our "husband and wife" time, not listening to him conference call between the hours of 8pm to midnight.  I know it won't always be like this; in fact, there will come a day where he's done at regular hours and I'm the one running around being too busy.  My temporary solution: I have found the closest dvd shop and stocked up on all my favorite shows to catch up on from home (just finished season 3 of The Good Wife - what a good show).  I have also stocked up on home pampering items and am spending a ridiculous amount of time lounging in the tub with bubbles and girly items... maybe I need to forgo getting "busy", because this is feeling quite lovely these days ;)
3. It's not always easy to meet people.  Especially in this booming metropolis of KL where you don't know who is a "local" expat and who is a tourist (which is significantly different to Balikpapan, where you could pretty much tell at a glance who was "local" and who wasn't - pretty much if they aren't sweating buckets and have shiny bling on from Afat's... they're local) ;)  I think it'll change once the girls get into school and some group activities, but for now, it's a quiet life.  I don't have a solution for this one yet, other than hanging out at the embassy to meet more Canadians ;)  but after the necessary trips getting new passports and other documents, I think they're as tired of seeing me as I am of them... though I will admit, I met 3 really nice ladies from New Brunswick and Montreal there.

Onwards and upwards... our shipment should arrive this week, but with holidays on Tuesday and Thursday I am not sure if it will actually be delivered this week.  Once it gets here, at least we'll have sorting, unpacking, and organizing to keep us busy!  I am also trying to make our Christmas plans, so when we get into the house I know what needs to get done and can start arranging all of that.  Last year, the girls and I had a fun Advent with something new to do every day, and I am hoping to do it again this year, but with more new and original ideas... I'll make sure to post them!  Looking forward to a good holiday season!

Changes

I recently realized my need to rediscover the alarm clock.  No longer are my children immediately coming into my room and poking me as soon as they wake up.  Now, the time is used to assert their independence - watch some extra cartoons, make their own breakfast, do some coloring...
I woke up the other morning to sounds of quiet talking, scheming, I could tell.  I came out of the bedroom, around the corner, and on the small round table in the apartment I found slices of bread, cereal in ziploc bags, the milk carton out, and a broken, runny egg sliding off the table onto the carpet.  Yes, runny egg onto the carpet.  I was tired, groggy, and all I could do was ask "and just what is going on in here?", to which Sofia replied "I'm helping Belyn get breakfast, mommy!"  Which is really darling, and sweet, and this is the behavior as parents we like to encourage... however, runny egg on the carpet is not my cup of tea first thing in the morning.  When I asked about the egg, she replied "oh, it's supposed to be hard-boiled egg but it opened like this instead".  As my grogginess was lifting, I had to hide my grin behind my hand.  She just knew the eggs in the shell at breakfast were hard, so why would these in the fridge be any different?  So.... I thanked her for her tremendous effort, explained that all of the eggs in the fridge are runny until we cook them, and we set to work cleaning up the runny egg to hopefully not have rotten egg smelling up the apartment by the end of the day, and on we went.

Really and truly, I need to start setting the alarm again!!